Robert Irwin

long - term view

Artist Biography

Robert Irwin consulted on the master plan for Dia:Beacon, creating, in particular, the design and landscaping of the outdoor spaces, and the entrance building and the window design. He was born in Long Beach, California, in 1928, and studied in Los Angeles at the Otis Art Institute (1948–50), the Jepson Art Institute (1951), and the Chinouard School of Art (1952–54). Since his first solo exhibition, at the Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, in 1957, he has exhibited widely in galleries and museums in North America and abroad. Irwin received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1984. In 1993, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, initiated a major retrospective of his work, which subsequently traveled to Paris, Madrid, and Cologne. Among his numerous public projects, the most recent is the monumental garden he designed for the Getty Center in Los Angeles, which opened in 1997. Dia held a two-part exhibition of Irwin's work in 1998–99, showing two site-specific installations, Prologue: x183 and Excursus: Homage to the Square³. Irwin currently lives and works in San Diego.